Exodus 7:14-24 - New International Version (NIV)
14 Then the Lord said to
Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go
to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank
of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 16 Then
say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of
the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may
worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. 17 This
is what the Lord says: By this you
will know that I am the Lord: With
the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will
be changed into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and
the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’”
19 The Lord said to
Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters
of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and
they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels
of wood and stone.”
20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord
had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials
and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. 21 The
fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could
not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.
22 But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret
arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron,
just as the Lord had said. 23 Instead,
he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart. 24 And
all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could
not drink the water of the river.
What is the
condition of Pharaoh’s heart (verse 14)?
Where is Moses
to confront Pharaoh (verse 15)?
In your
opinion, how would Pharaoh react to Moses saying “the Lord, the God of the
Hebrews, has sent me to you” (verse 16)?
What will
Pharaoh know when Moses strikes the water of the Nile with the staff in his
hand (verse 17)?
How will
things change when Moses strikes the water with the staff (verses 17 and
18)?
When does the
water in the streams, canals, ponds, reservoirs and even in the vessels of wood
and stone turn to blood (verse 19)?
What did Moses
do (verse 20)?
Where was the
blood (verse 21)?
In your
opinion, why does the Pharaoh’s heart become hard after the Egyptian magicians
do the same things “by their secret arts” (verse 22)?
What did
Pharaoh do (verse 23)?
How did the
Egyptians get water to drink (verse 24)?
In your
opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
Mark 6:1-6a - New
International Version (NIV)
1 Jesus left
there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When
the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him
were amazed.
“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this
wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is
performing? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son
and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with
us?” And they took offense at him.
4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his
own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could
not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal
them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.
Where did
Jesus go (verse 1)?
What did Jesus
do on the Sabbath (verse 2)?
In your
opinion, why did the listener’s reaction go from amazement to questioning that
gets more and more personal, and then to taking offense at Jesus (verses 2 and
3)?
Where is a
prophet without honor (verse 4)?
In your
opinion, why were a few sick people still able to receive miraculous healing in
spite of the general lack of miracles (verse 5)?
By what was
Jesus amazed (verse 6)?
In your opinion, how is the pharaoh in Exodus
7:14-24 similar to the people of Jesus hometown in Mark 6:1-6a that allowed all
of them (except for a few sick people in Jesus hometown) to reject the Lord?
1 When Paul and his companions had passed through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish
synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue,
and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining
and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus
I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. 4 Some of the
Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of
God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.
5 But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad
characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city.
They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them
out to the crowd. 6 But when they did not find them, they
dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting:
“These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and
Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees,
saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” 8 When
they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then
they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to
Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now
the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for
they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures
every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 As a result,
many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many
Greek men.
13 But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching
the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and
stirring them up. 14 The believers immediately sent Paul to the
coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. 15 Those who
escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas
and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
Where did Paul and him companions come to (verse
1)?
Where did Paul go on
the Sabbath (verse 2)?
What did Paul explain and prove that the Messiah had to do
(verse 3)?
Who was persuaded and joined Paul and Silas (verse 4)?
In your opinion, why were other Jews jealous (verse 5)?
What did the jealous Jews do with Jason and other believers
when they could not find Paul (verse 6)?
What crime did they say Jason and the other believers had committed
(verse 7)?
How did the city officials respond (verse 8)?
What did Jason and the others have to do (verse 9)?
Where did Paul and Silas go when they got to Berea (verse
10)?
How did the Berean Jews respond to the message (verse 11)?
What was the result of the message (verse 12)?
Why did the crowds in Berea get stirred up (verse 13)?
What did the Berean believers do (verse 14)?
What instructions did Paul send to Silas and Timothy (verse
15)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, why did Pharaoh turn from God after hearing
Moses in Exodus 4:14-24 but many Berean Jews turned to Jesus and believed after
hearing Paul in Acts 17:1-15?
In your opinion, why would the people of Jesus’s hometown in
Mark 6:1-6a respond more like the Thessalonians Jews than the Berean Jews of
Acts 17:1-15?
1 Paul, Silas
and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you.
2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in
our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work
produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by
hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he
has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply
with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You
know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became
imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of
severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And
so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The
Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in
God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about
it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you
gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and
true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he
raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Who do Paul,
Silas and Timothy thank God for and continually mention in their prayers (verses
1 and 2)?
In your
opinion, why does Paul link work with faith, labor with love, and endurance with
hope (verse 3)?
How does God
feel about these people (verse 4)?
How did the
gospel come to them (verse 5)?
In your
opinion, what does it mean to welcome “the message in the midst of severe
suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit” (verse 6)?
What did they
become to “all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia” (verse 7)?
Where has
their faith in God become known (verse 8)?
Who did they
turn to God from (verse 9)?
Who do they
wait for (verse 10)?
In your
opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, why would the familiarity of the people in
Jesus’s hometown in Mark 6:1-6a have made it more difficult for them to be like
the Thessalonian Christians who Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 turned from
idols to God? What can we learn today
from their difficulty?
In your
opinion, what can we learn from the fact that in 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Paul begins
with thanks and praise for the Christians who dwell in the town where he had
once been forced to flee from in Acts 17:1-15?
In your
opinion, what can we learn from these passages in Exodus, Mark, Acts and 1 Thessalonians
about the importance of the condition of the heart and what it means to the
receptiveness of the message of God?
In your
opinion, how is the condition of our own hearts linked to our work, our labor
and our endurance? How can we improve
our heart condition today?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
